Fat Joe Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

Rapper Fat Joe is the latest celebrity to get press attention for “forgetting” to pay his taxes for at least two years in a row. He’s already pled guilty to tax evasion charges and could be sentenced to a minimum of 2 years in jail.

TMZ reports that the rapper, whose real name is Joseph Cartagena, was accused of tax evasion after not paying his taxes for 2007 and 2008, totaling about $700,000 (€530,222) in debt.

He pled guilty to the charge and is now awaiting sentencing on the next hearing.

“Joe – who appeared in federal court in New Jersey this morning to enter the plea – was freed on a $250k [€189,365] bond. He's scheduled to be sentenced in April and could get up to two years in prison,” TMZ writes.

As we also noted on previous occasions, more and more celebrities are getting into serious financial trouble – whether filing for bankruptcy or being hounded by the IRS for not paying their taxes and amassing huge debts – and making headlines all over the world.

When an artist that is as successful as Fat Joe or Lil Wayne doesn’t pay his taxes, the consensus seems to be that they simply believe they’re “above the law” and somehow delude themselves into thinking they could get away with it, voices online are saying.

Then, there’s the sadder situation when a celebrity simply goes bankrupt and is forced to file for bankruptcy.

This would be the case of Toni Braxton, Gary Busey and Gary Dourdan, whose recent financial problems are also linked to a decrease in the number of projects they’ve been offered in recent years, but mainly to bad initial investments and/or financial consulting.

Back to Fat Joe, the rapper is yet to publicly address the situation he finds himself in yet.